ArmA II: Operation Arrowhead discussion thread

[efefia 0]

Aha, the one where you are alone in the forest?

Most epic gaming experience, ever.

No joke, I hid in a bush for about 2 hours whilst some bmp 2 frantically hunted me down. Then, an entire squad was approaching me in my little hiding spot, but they were casually walking, so they didn't know I was there.

I just layed prone and hid until everyone had run off, and then I sprinted it. Dodging bullets and whizzing around like a mad man, what a brilliant experience!

That was a true gaming highlight for anyone that played the game.

I think what I like is the way that dynamic events occur in BIS' games, you can play the same missions over and over in different ways and the course of events and outcome will rarely be the same.

I remember one of the early missions in ArmA, leading a couple of stryker and a couple of hummer's (from memory) out of the airfield up to the coast road, the first time I played it I was probably a little too cautious and the Russian armour ended up pinning me down, what ensued was a game of cat and mouse for what seemed like an age. I'd lost the styrker, was down to 3 or 4 men and it was looking grim when I hear a distant rumble, one of the BMP's blew and directly overhead swept an AV8-B, to cheers from me that I can't repeat without breaking forum rules. Downside was it was 1am and I managed to wake my neighbours lol

[4 IN 1 0]

Yes, I cannot remember how many times I died in that mission, only to find out that the real me is sweating, hands shacking and heart beating crazy, the most amazing is that, every time I get "killed" I just stand up, go to drank a cup of iced water, relax a bit, then came back to do another round until finally I got it right. Too bad this is the one thing that BI simply cant reproduce in their recent three release, HR in ArmA2 is close , untill the warfare mission starts...

Edited July 9, 2010 by 4 IN 1

[Guest]

Yes, I cannot remember how many times I died in that mission, only to find out that the real me is sweating, hands shacking and heart beating crazy, the most amazing is that, every time I get "killed" I just stand up, go to drank a cup of iced water, relax a bit, then came back to do another round until finally I got it right. Too bad this is the one thing that BI simply cant reproduce in their recent three release, HR in ArmA2 is close , untill the warfare mission starts...

Agreed :(

I have no doubts the game engine is much better than it was in OFP, but the actual campaigns just are not as good. I hope one day BIS can find that same magic they had for campaigns back then.

[Harulf 10]

I remember that OFP mission where you are alone in the woods very well.

After I tried it a few times I just gave up the game and didn't touch it for some weeks.

But one day I just tried again and I was so fascinated with this mission that I played it several times just to find different ways to get to the evac point.

This mission was so different from everything I have ever seen before...

Eagle Wing reminded me of that mission a bit.

I wish BI had made something like Resistance for ArmA2: the player being the commander of a small resistance force (NAPA) poorly equipped, fighting a guerilla war against the Chedaki... yeeah!

[wamingo 1]

I hope one day BIS can find that same magic they had for campaigns back then.

I sometimes wonder how much of CWC can be attributed to codemasters.

[Muzza 0]

I sometimes wonder how much of CWC can be attributed to codemasters.

From what I've seen in Dragon Rising, not much.

[Zipper5 74]

BIS made the missions. Codemasters made the widely-regarded-as-the-worst-official-OFP-campaign Red Hammer, together with British voice actors putting on fake Russian accents and speaking English. :D

The only thing that Codemasters seemed to provide to CWC were faces and voice acting.

[tsb247 0]

BIS made the missions. Codemasters made the widely-regarded-as-the-worst-official-OFP-campaign Red Hammer, together with British voice actors putting on fake Russian accents and speaking English. :D

The only thing that Codemasters seemed to provide to CWC were faces and voice acting.

That might explain why I could never bring myself to care that much about Red Hammer. I got a little ways into it, but I got bored with it rather quickly.

Resistence and Cold War Crisis on the other hand...

I take pride in the fact that I completed them. They were challenging and great fun! I spent about a week trying to figure out the best way to be a specific mission (can't remember which one though) in CWC.

[Placebo 28]

I sometimes wonder how much of CWC can be attributed to codemasters.

Read a Dragon Rising interview, Codemasters did everything on CWC, they also invented Fade, I believe they also built the BIS offices with their bare heads, digging the foundations with only a rusty spoon found in Prague (they also invented Prague, and the Czech Republic itself)......

[tsb247 0]

I stole a tractor and drove to the extraction point as fast as I could in that as a BMP and squad of enemy soldiers were firing at me, willing the tractor to go faster as bullets were pinging off the frame of the tractor is an experience like no other :)

What I find humorous is that I took the exact same approach! I just drove that little blue tractor as fast as I could and zig-zagged through the forests as I moved toward the extractions point.

Ahhh... The memories...

[ProfTournesol 956]

Read a Dragon Rising interview, Codemasters did everything on CWC, they also invented Fade, I believe they also built the BIS offices with their bare heads, digging the foundations with only a rusty spoon found in Prague (they also invented Prague, and the Czech Republic itself)......

Oh, and Codemater's Sion Lenton created our chief moderator with body parts coming from some Brits and some kangaroos. With some unexpected results.

[Placebo 28]

Exactly, I am an AI lifeform created with the leftover pieces from when Codemasters invented the babbage computer back in 384BC.

[CW001 10]

It is so. ;-)

It's totally different from the Arma 2 co-op campaign.

Everyone has their own objectives.

Herrera (I think he's called) is always driving something heavy.

Pierce is a pilot (need I say more?)

Drace is the special ops and the last guy is the grunt team leader.

And while you work together, you are never in the same group.

Oh HELL YES!

[wamingo 1]

The only thing that Codemasters seemed to provide to CWC were faces and voice acting.

voice acting can make a game. bioware games eg.

Bearing in mind of course that first experiences are typically more memorable,

and voice acting aside I thought perhaps they could've contributed with things like quality assurance and design assistance - ie story.

Whatever it could have been it might've made the difference, is all I'm saying.

Uncharacteristic conflicts, protagonists and antagonists haven't historically made for enthralling stories. Without it you have no drama.

ArmA lacks Drama. It rhymes and (I think) it's true.

[Component Actual 10]

After reading so much about how great Operation Flashpoints Campaign was on this thread, it is making me really want to go and play it, since I never played any BIS game before ARMA2. Only problem is I think I am too spoiled by ARMA2's graphics to go back to the graphics of a 10 year old game.

Has anyone converted the OFP campaign so that it can be played in ARMA2? I know they did this or somethign similar with the ARMA missions with the CAA1 mod. Anybody know about OFP?

[jakerod 254]

After reading so much about how great Operation Flashpoints Campaign was on this thread, it is making me really want to go and play it, since I never played any BIS game before ARMA2. Only problem is I think I am too spoiled by ARMA2's graphics to go back to the graphics of a 10 year old game.

Has anyone converted the OFP campaign so that it can be played in ARMA2? I know they did this or somethign similar with the ARMA missions with the CAA1 mod. Anybody know about OFP?

Coldwar Rearmed is doing it. Do a search for their name and you should find a thread for them.

[turin turambar 0]

Well, you can play it in Arma 1 already.

[Component Actual 10]

If they don't mention the editor and the quite strong community content that has been produced with it, then I agree with you. But at the end of the day, how many people do you think really want to create their own content?

BIS keeps touting the sandbox horn despite for years having been told by reviewers and community alike that they want quality campaigns. Now I'm sure BIS knows best what's right for them, but then you can't really call foul on the reviewers.

I agree and to be perfectly honest the reviewers have a point. I haven't played enough of OA to really comment much on it but concerning ARMA2 the campaign really kind of bored me. No scratch that it really bored me. And the game was too buggy and too boring to keep me interested. So I didnt play it for like 8 months or something. Then I decided to give it another try to see if performance and bugs were any better. And they were, but unfortunately the campaign still kinda sucked. I mean who wants to get in a helicopter just to pull up a map and point and click a hundred times where to go to try and find a guy in car that looks like every other car for 20-30 minutes. WHY CANT I FLY THE HELICOPTER geez!!! Boring. Anyway finnaly after looking on internet for cheat to be able to fly helicopter myself i discovered ARMAHOLIC and all the user created missions and campaings where you actually got to shoot people and fly choppers yourself and I was hooked. But out of the box the game isn't much in my opinion. It is the user created content missions, and campaings that make the game. And as far as the editor goes you have to be a programmer to get any real use out of it. I mean it barely has a graphical user interface, and even very simple things like deleting a unit require long text commands/programming. Why must I write a script for everything. Why aren't there just options to select from that will create these scripts for me? Why can't I select weapons from a list? Why most I write a huge set of commands to pick the equipment of a single soldier. Anyone who argues the editor is easy to use is just being a fanboy who does not want to admit the short comings of the game. It is okay to see faults in a game you love, only when we recognize the problems can we get them fixed.

Edited July 9, 2010 by Component Actual

[Tonci87 163]

Is the Arma 1 Campaign already converted by CAA1?

[Zipper5 74]

5 easy steps showing that the editor is easy to use:

1. Find a location you want to have an epic battle in.
   
2. Select the groups tab.
   
3. Place infantry, armor or even air groups for each side.
   
4. Give them all a Seek and Destroy waypoint in the other side's starting area.
   
5. Set a unit to Player and preview the mission.
   

In just 5 steps, you've created a large battle that will probably last the good part of 10 minutes. ;)

Only when you want to get into the long, detailed missions or campaigns does it take some advanced knowledge of the editor and scripting languages.

When arming your soldiers, you need only know the weapon classnames, and the removeAllWeapons, addWeapon, addMagazine and selectWeapon commands.

Edited July 9, 2010 by Zipper5

[Craig_VG 20]

Is the Arma 1 Campaign already converted by CAA1?

Exactly what I was just wondering...

Anyone know?

[Zipper5 74]

As far as I know CAA1 is not being developed anymore. And even when it was running, kju said that it's very unlikely that they will waste time porting the ArmA campaign because hardly anyone thought it was good enough to port.

[Killerwatt 0]

Exactly what I was just wondering...

Anyone know?

I wish I knew for certain. But as far as I can tell it only includes the islands and not the units, Aircraft and vehicles. I have it installed and have been hoping to find the missing parts so I could play the campaign. But despite having the original ArmA, I have had no luck tracking down the missing elements. Strangely enough A RACS T72 with driver only is included but its impossible to even change seats in it. I think there is also a US Army M113 but thats about it. If anyone can tell us how to get the missing stuff installed then that would be great.

[[GLT] Legislator 66]

Having more than the islands in CAA1 is kind of tricky ... you'll have to use a lot of additional (and very good addons):

SLA pack

Sahrani civilians

M113

Stryker

Ka-50

Desert USMC units

And of course the great upcomming Project RACS mod for the southern native army :)

When I got some time I'm gonna try porting the remaining civilian vehicles over to ArmA II.

Edit:

Sorry for getting offtopic with this post. I was mistook this thread for the CAA1 thread when I posted it. Sorry about that mistake.

Edited July 10, 2010 by [GLT] Legislator

[Alwarren 2766]

try and find a guy in car that looks like every other car for 20-30 minutes.

Realism at work. If I were a war criminal trying to get away, I'd not chose a pink VW Beetle with painted-on eyes but rather a car that looks like every other car ;)

WHY CANT I FLY THE HELICOPTER geez!!!

Because usually, most soldiers can't. I don't really think that is a problem. I hate this Backaroo Banzai type games were the protagonist drives to work in a tank, slaughters through a horse of enemies, jumps in a helicopter to fly away to the nearest hospital to perform a heart transplantation. In reality, soldiers are infantrymen OR pilots, but not both (and yeah, I made up the heart transplantation)

Maybe I think different because most of what I have seen of the campaign was played cooperative with three others. It gave us an incredible, real-war roleplay like experience that I found positively awesome (and I played Sykes ^^)

---------- Post added at 09:40 ---------- Previous post was at 09:36 ----------

Exactly what I was just wondering...

Anyone know?

Actually, there is an early preview of it. I remember having downloaded it from dev-heaven.net a while ago. I didn't get too far into it since it isn't exactly polished. Also contained some of the single player missions, llike Blood, Sweat and Tears.

Unfortunately, I can't remember where I downloaded it... but didn't CAA1 get picked up by someone after kju left the project?